So, I can’t give you any new news about tvN’s upcoming blockbuster action drama Three Musketeers, just stills. But they’re pretty stills! So have at ‘em.

(I will contend that the main poster, above, is perhaps the least attractive of the bunch, but everything else has that slick, flashy veneer and fast-moving action energy, so I suppose I’ll give the poster a pass. Even though it’s your main poster! Could you maybe try not to look like the cover of a straight-to-video release from the ’80s? You know, the kind where the lips don’t match the sound?)

One nice accomplishment of this production is to make it look both badass and flower-boy-pretty. Though when you cast Lee Jin-wook and Jung Yong-hwa as your leads, maybe that was just gonna be a given. Yang Dong-geun is more badass than flower boy, but his rough-n-ready charm should balance out with newcomer Jung Hae-in’s boyishness.

I’m eager to see what this drama does to meld Joseon history with the classic story, though honestly I don’t need it to hew too closely to the Dumas tale; the premise alone is strong enough to build a drama on. And I know I sure am up for a saucy summer swashbuckler, so let’s hope Three Musketeers delivers when it premieres in another couple weeks; its first episode will air on August 17. All for one, and all for love one for all!

My first thought was that he had indigestion. A little bit intense expression, yes? And sorry, but that black hat with the square buckle or whatever looks like he got it from a pilgrim. And although his gold brocade robe is impressive, the pale turquoise and purple one looks like a Disney princess costume. But that other guy with the off-white costume (sorry I don’t know his name) I really like that one. They should all have something like that. And if they don’t have a hat, they get to show off a mane of glory, so it’s all good.

I don’t think it will have anything to do with the books. I’m guessing that the story is based on the 2nd Manchu invasion. A turbulent period in history with plenty of internal/external conflicts and a patriotic Crown Prince with his own dreams in the mix to spice things up.
I love this writer and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us viewers.

Phew! So it wasn’t just me. (If you showed me the poster and asked, “who is in this?” I wouldn’t be able to tell you.) And I am looking forward to this. (They should let Fanderay do the posters–seriously!)

I definitely enjoy the pretty, but from the teasers so far it’s Yang Dong-geun that’s intriguing me the most. It was this shot from the teasers that got me: http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa324/girlfridaydb/news/2014/Musketeers12.jpg make me really interested in his characters. I immediately thought, yeah, I want to watch this to find out more about that character, because he looks like he’s going to be awesome.

I almost didn’t want to scroll through the pictures (I thought this was Night Watchman for a second when I clicked on it) because Jung Yong Hwa has basically scared me off with his vacant portrayal in You’re Beautiful, but boy am I glad I did because Lee Jin Wook is Super Hot!!! Seeing picture after picture of his beautiful face is a nice way to end my night.

France first developed a professional army in the 15th Century, and by the mid-17th they had “royal” or “kings” units of mustketeers, pikeman, and various kinds of cavalry. However, the muskets these professional soldiers used were bulky and crude to load and fire–about like the muskets the kings soldiers are using in ‘Joseon Gunman’, so they were pretty useless for gadding about town or any sort of private quarrel or brawl. Hence, the kiind of fights you see in an rolicking adventure story are going to resolved with small-swords, knives, fists, and, very rarely, a blunderbuss or pistol.

Then they should have retitled the drama to Three Swordsmen or something as I see no muskets in the poster. I get your point about muskets being slow to load. However, the original French Musketeers of the Guard were named thus because they were an elite military group who specialized in muskets. You can’t just slap on “Musketeers” as part of the title and not use muskets in your promo material. Perhaps they make an appearance on the show?

Maybe I’m being a bit nitpicky. I’m a fan of Dumas so I get twitchy whenever adaptations get it wrong.

P.S. I think the gunmen in Joseon gunmen use rifles, but I’m not sure.

The hired gunmen in ‘Joseon Gunman’ all use single-shot bolt action Mauser rifles, made in Germany and probably purchased in Japan, where they were standard issue for the Meji Restoration army. The king’s musketeers in ‘Joseon Gunman’ are using an ancient design of match-lock that the Europeans gave up on back three hundred years previously. That was the price Joseon paid for its policy of isolation from outside cultures.

All film versions of ‘The Three Musketeers’ are based on the classic novel written by Alexander Dumas around 1844 and it is his fault that almost no one shoots any guns during the story. He based his novel on lines from another novel written in 1700, a copy of which he found in a public library in Marseilles, France.

In any event, the ‘Musketeers of the Guard’ were a real elite military unit, one made up entirely of ‘gentlemen’ soliders, and they were the kind of fellows who settled all their personal disputes by dueling with swords.

True, all of this. I was just surprised at the complete absence of guns because, well, they are musketeers. Chuno, which was set set in the 1600s (or was that the 1700s?), featured slaves who took revenge on their masters using matchlocks. The action was masterfully directed, and I wondered if it couldn’t be replicated here. After all, the trailer did feature some battle scenes. I always imagined the original musketeers to be carrying guns during the siege of La Rochelle. But yeah, they did spend most of the novel swaggering around in swords.

10.1.1.1.2 KiaraAugust 1st, 2014 at 7:47 AM

The time line for this show should be around 1620-40ish. It’s exactly the same timeline as Chuno. General Song Tae-ha played by Oh Ji-ho was one of Crown Prince Sohyeon trusted people while he was serving in Qing.

So instead of slave hunters we have musketeers with just swords.

10.1.1.1.3 Quiet ThoughtAugust 1st, 2014 at 9:22 AM

“So instead of slave hunters we have musketeers with just swords.”

A good example of class distinction! The royal musketeers are gentlemen of quality living in the royal capital in a society where gentleman carried swords and dueled a lot. Save-hunters are peasant or worse than peasants. They carry whatever tools get the job done.